Old Hippie

Ignorance:
The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.

Stupidity:
A poor ability to understand or to profit from experience (antonym: intelligence)

There is a big difference in the meaning of these two words, however we frequently use them interchangeably. There is no inherent shame in being ignorant about a subject, ignorance is a state of mind that can be overcome. You can become more educated and increase your knowledge to turn ignorance into intelligence. Stupidity, however, is not necessarily a condition that education can alleviate. If you have a poor ability to understand experience, you will have a hard time educating yourself to become intelligent. Stupidity is also exhibited when someone, who you know is intelligent, refuses to admit ignorance and instead attempts to explain away or rationalize something stupid.

To say, "I don't know, I am not educated on that subject" is a valid, proper response to a question on a subject which someone knows nothing or very little about. That is an acceptable answer. But how often do we hear that answer? Not often enough I believe. Usually the response we get is off the subject or an attack on someone else's understanding, or their very character, or mumbo-jumbo trying to make it seem like the person knows what he/she is talking about when what they are really doing is selfishly putting forth their agenda. This is stupidity.

That said, there is shame to be laid at the feet of anyone who uses ignorance as an excuse for not performing a function that they should have done. Witness the Katrina disaster and think about whose responsibility it was to get relief efforts into action. It is not the federal government. All disaster preparations are local efforts and the feds get involved only when asked by the state. I'm not letting the federal agencies off the hook here, their response was painfully slow even when they were requested, but the thrust of all of these relief efforts begin at the local level.

I think the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, and the governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, should shoulder much of the blame of the slow and inadequate response to this disaster. I also believe the people who stayed in New Orleans instead of evacuating deserve a good bit of the blame themselves. There was an article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune in July that stated from the mayor and Red Cross perspective that in the event of a major hurricane, if you don't evacuate and choose to stay, you are on your own. New Orleans had no plan to handle evacuation of the city's large population without automobiles. And apparently thinking outside the box was not an issue either. The entire fleet of city buses and school buses are under water and were never used to help take stranded folks out of harm's way once the hurricane hit. Now they are useless. This is stupidity.

Governor Blanco has said that federal help was offered but she wanted to have 24 hours to think the situation over before deciding if she wanted that help. Mayor Nagin obviously had a handful to deal with but his major contribution on air seemed to be swearing at the press that there was no federal help and inferring that the CIA may likely come and shut his mouth permanently. Perhaps he would have been better served to scream at his governor instead. More stupidity.

These elected officials are not ignorant. They have the knowledge and the ability to process and understand the situations. Yet in the time of crisis they chose to pass the blame for their lack of preparation and lack of decision making skills on to the federal government. This is stupidity.

The federal agencies, Department of Homeland Security and FEMA, have their share of stupidity also. I heard Michael Chertoff, director of DHS, say that there was no way anyone could have planned for a hurricane and a levee breaking at the same time. This is not ignorance! This is high stupidity! You have to be brain dead to think a major hurricane in New Orleans would not have a devestating effect on a city that lies below sea level and is dependent on the levees holding back the water. When you look up at the water level above your head around the city, you have to think of a flood if a hurricane would hit. Not to realize this is stupidity.

Now a lot of the people who stayed in New Orleans fall into the ignorance category; the elderly, the infirm, the children. Most of these people probably were not fully aware of the impending potential disaster. But they were, in most cases, cared for by people who are aware of the situation and should be reacting properly. If the proper reaction was not forthcoming to care for the ignorant, the caregivers for these folks acted stupidly. People need to take responsibility for their decisions, for their actions and for their lack of actions. Not doing so is pure stupidity.

I also want to touch on the looting and the shooting and the violence. Stealing food is one thing. Stealing televisions is quite another matter. Celine Dion's pathetic attempt to explain away this behavior by saying they probably never touched nice things in their whole life, let them touch these things, is not an excuse. Suggesting that perhaps they wanted to barter the television for food is not ignorance. That is stupid.

There is plenty of blame to go around with Katrina. That is not what is needed during a crisis. There is plenty of time for name calling after the situation is under control. Ignorance during a crisis is not a horrible thing unless one chooses to remain ignorant and "ignore" the real world situations around you. You can erase ignorance and become intelligent. There can be no excuse for stupidity on the part of officials tasked with leading. They have access to all relevant knowledge and they are presumably bright enough to be performing the functions of their elected or appointed positions. Stupidity from a leader should not be tolerated.

On the edges of this disaster coverage lie the predators waiting and sniping whenever possible to pursue their own personal agendas. I mean the folks like Carol Mosley Braun, former Senator from Illinois, blaming the slow response to the disaster on racism. Or the rapper, Kanye West, who said, "I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. If you see a white family, they're looking for food. George Bush doesn't care about black people." So is he saying that George Bush is the media? How does he know that Bush doesn't care about black people? Maybe Kanye really is ignorant and not stupid.

These people are not helping the situation by making ridiculous statements that only serve to inflame people who agree or disagree with them. They are simply stirring the pot and getting themselves in the news to further their personal agendas. This is stupidity!

Or how about the folks on the Democratic Underground? Almost as soon as the hurricane hit, there were posts on DU claiming that George Bush blew up the levees on purpose because Katrina only brushed the city and he needed a major crisis to allow him to become more popular or something. Now democraticunderground.com is obviously a left-wing web forum for liberals to spout their hate of Republicans and especially George Bush. But spewing outrageous claims of criminal behavior that are obviously false does not help anyone. Most of these people are not ignorant either. They are aware of the facts, however their hatred for one man in particular, causes them to constantly exhibit their stupidity.

German media went so far as to blame Katrina on George Bush for not signing the Kyoto Treaty. They forget to ever mention that the treaty was voted upon and soundly beaten 99-0 by the Senate during Bill Clinton's presidency. They are not ignorant of this fact but they are stupid for ignoring it.

I wish we could see an increase in the number of public officials, and anyone in the news actually, that aren't afraid to say "I don't know." This would show intelligence. Much more so than to bullshit your way through an answer or to speak the party line or to offer possible explanations instead of the facts. Damn, if you don't know, just say so! Then go find out.

A wise man once said, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt."

Just my nickel.

OH